President Salva Kiir grants amnesty to Machar

President Salva Kiir granted a general amnesty to rebels in South Sudan’s civil war, including his former deputy Riek Machar, as a rights organisation said authorities in Africa’s youngest country should also free its critics.

The amnesty order was read out on state-run television late on Wednesday, three days after Kiir,SPLM-IO leader Machar and the heads of other groups signed a ceasefire and power-sharing agreement in the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

A political row between Kiir and Machar degenerated in 2013 into a war that has killed tens of thousands, forced a quarter of the population to flee their homes and wrecked the country’s oil-dependent economy.

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The conflict in this country, independent of neighbouring Sudan since 2011, has left tens of thousands dead and displaced millions.